Histon Reserves 1 CRC 2
Another three points, this time in a local derby, but not a performance that will bring too many other wins. We rode our luck at Bridge Road, scored twice courtesy of two deflections and struggled to show any spark going forward despite playing against ten men for the final half an hour.
That said, winning is a good habit and we continued to look solid defensively. Apart from their goal in the opening quarter and one smart interception from Sam Beagle, our hosts didn't really create a clear cut chance. Our shortcoming at present is that in truth, neither did we! Rory McAuley had one far post header saved and we continue to look menacing at set plays, especially with Sam Parkinson's excellent and accurate deliveries, but from open play we need to do better.
We train at Clare College Sports College on Bentley Road and the groundsman is Histon's Rob Nightingale. Having only come off the bench briefly at Mansfield on the previous evening, Rob played against us and gave our scholars an absolute master class in midfield play and then as a lone striker after the sending off. He was the best attacking player on the pitch by miles and showed the intelligence in making runs and creating space that we must continue trying to aspire to.
On Wednesday, we were very one dimensional going forward and played too often in straight lines. Much of our work was also too late to be effective and this laziness in not working early means that we don't make the right angles and support shapes to keep the ball. We then had to rely on Brad Hunter fighting for possession up front, Jordan Patrick and Bussy (Craig Bussens) beating their full back, or Maz (Adam Marriott) producing a bit of magic with the ball at his feet. Therefore our attacking play was sporadic and, apart from the odd moment, easy for the home team to defend.
The equaliser came from an extremely unlikely source; Lewis Carr's left foot! Scored with a 25-yard left-footed half volley are words rarely if ever written in the same sentence as Lewis Carr! Well, with the aid of a slight deflection, this was how we drew level. The old adage of "you don't win the raffle unless you buy a ticket" springs to mind, as does our constant reminder to the players about the value of shooting low and early through bodies to get such a result. That split second or extra touch is often the difference between a block and deflection. Just look at how quickly Frank Lampard gets his shots off around the box and how many of his goals are scored via a deflection. I hope our strikers are taking note. There is no chance of a deflection when the ball goes over the bar or if you have not got your strike off in time.
The game effectively changed on the hour mark when Ben Coker was dismissed for his second yellow card. In some ways, this exposed our current inadequacies - we now had a numerical advantage and more of the ball but still lacked the ability to play through the opposition. One moment from Adam Marriott almost unlocked the home defence but after a great turn in the box, he was denied the winner by the home keeper.
But with just 5 minutes remaining, Jordan Patrick did find the moment of inspiration we needed. Beating the right back with trickery and pace, he unleashed a dangerous left footed cross shot which was deflected into the far bottom corner.
Histon will understandably feel hard done by and worked extremely hard to keep us at bay in the final 30 minutes. However, I am sure that we will have days when our performance is not rewarded with the points we deserved, so we are happy to take advantage of the slices of fortune we enjoyed on Wednesday. Over the last two years, it has not often been the case. They say you make your own luck and certainly our work rate, organisation and resilience is giving us a platform to stay in the game even when we are below our best. We must now add the attacking flair, movement and quality that we know our players have in their lockers.
With Saturday off, we'll have had a week to work on these things at training and try to show an improvement against King's Lynn Reserves at the Abbey Stadium on Wednesday evening (7.45pm).
Team: Beagle, Bowe, Parkinson, Carr, Howell, McAuley, Bussens (Bailey 90), Berry (Ives 65), Hunter, Marriott (Yambasu 80), Patrick
Jez George
Head of Youth Development
